


what an experience

by glitter_ghostie



Series: finn week 2017 [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Gen, heartfelt speeches, job au, science teacher finn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 08:30:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11551413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitter_ghostie/pseuds/glitter_ghostie
Summary: The last week of school had passed in a blurred crawl, but at last the final day of term had arrived. Finn sat in his classroom, wheeling back and forth in his chair as he waited for his final class of the day – form period.Finn says goodbye to his class as they begin the next stage of their lives.





	what an experience

**Author's Note:**

> a couple notes for people who may not know how the british school system works: secondary school (sometimes called high school) is years 7-11 (from ages 11 to 16), and after there's sixth form, (which is years 12-13 and is made up of students aged 16-18). "form period" is another name for a home room, and is lead by a "form tutor" (finn, but he's also a science teacher).

The last week of school had passed in a blurred crawl, but at last the final day of term had arrived. Finn sat in his classroom, wheeling back and forth in his chair as he waited for his final class of the day – form period.

He looked at the class portrait he’d blutacked to the wall, his eyes slowly travelling over the awkward twelve-year-old faces of his form in Year Seven, and him stood in the middle of them – his first year as a teacher and green as hell, beaming into the camera.

Next to that portrait was the photo of his form taken at the start of Year Eleven, and he felt himself smile at the change between the two. His students were older, obviously, some had joined or left since that first picture, and _he_ looked different, too – a bit more mature looking, less shy and nervous.

_Better haircut, too,_ Finn thought with a smirk.

There were other photos stuck to the walls, too – him and his form dressed up on World Book Day, photos from their prom, and a photo from when Finn burnt his eyebrows off during a science experiment. They’d built up over the past five years, the plain white wall slowly gaining character with every photo, drawing and weird snippet his students gave him. 

Finn looked at the clock on the wall – his class was late. He rolled his eyes, because that was just bloody typical.

There was a knock on his door, and Finn swivelled to face it, calling out “you can come in.”

Rey poked her head around the door, saying “one of your lot’s caused a flood in a classroom.”

Finn wasn’t even surprised at this point, and he sighed as he stood. “For the love of God,” he said, and Rey shook her head, an unreadable look on her face.

“I’ll man the fort,” she said, already sitting down in his chair and spinning around. “In case your form shows up while you’re gone.”

“Thanks, Rey,” Finn said, and she gave him a lazy salute as he rushed out of the room.

Finding a flooded classroom was surprisingly difficult. No one seemed to know which room it happened in, and he kept getting sent from one end of the science block to the other, checking in each room as he passed. He was chewing his lip, checking along the hallway again because he must’ve just missed it somehow – 

“Sir!” 

Finn turned to see one of his students – a girl called Julia – stood at the other end of the corridor, sopping wet and waving.

Finn began to walk down the corridor, and Julia shrieked and ran off. Finn walked faster, his brow furrowing – she must be the one who started the flood.

He turned the corner just in time to see his classroom door slam shut, and heard a muffled giggle on the other side. Finn sighed again, preparing his ‘scolding teacher voice’ as he approached his door.

He stepped inside, and blinked owlishly when he realised all the lights were off. He squinted, waiting for his eyes to adjust and turned to feel around for the light switch when the door shut behind him with a slam.

“Hey – “

“Surprise!”

The lights came back on, and Finn saw the faces of his form, and Rey, all grinning and holding a sign that read “thanks, sir!”

Finn couldn’t think of what to do for a long moment, standing stock still and slack-jawed, and then Julia ran into his arms, giving him a damp hug.

“Sorry, we had to get you out of the room to get everything set up,” Julia explained, grinning and wiping water from her face.

Finn still couldn’t get his words together – he looked around at the kids he’d spent the past five years getting to know, helping them along and coaxing them in the right direction, who were all watching him expectantly.

“I don’t know what to say.”

“I think this is the first time I’ve seen you speechless,” Rey teased, and then the sign was abandoned as his form ran to join the hug. Finn’s laugh bubbled up before he even realised it was happening, and he looked around at the crowd of students.

Rey began chanting “speech, speech, speech,” and one by one, his form joined in until he wriggled his arms free from the hug to wave them off.

“Fine, fine,” he laughed. “Where do I begin?”

Finn looked around each of his students – some of them tearing up, others trying to act like they weren’t – and smiled with a slight sigh. “Five years, huh? It feels like it was barely last week that we were all brand new here, and now you’re all done and moving onto the next stages of your lives. I remember when many of you worried that you would never succeed in school, but I want you to know that success looks different for everyone – maybe your future doesn’t include straight A’s, or a scholarship or a university degree, but I know that you’ve all done what will make you happy, and that you’ve done the best you could possibly do, and I’m – “

He paused for a moment, feeling his throat tighten, and heard a couple “aww”s. He swallowed, smiling, and continued.

“I’m so proud of who you’ve all become. I know it hasn’t been easy, but you’ve all come so far, and I couldn’t be happier with the young adults you’ve become.”

“God, that’s sappy,” Rey said, her voice suspiciously watery, and Finn’s form broke out into cheers.

When it was time for everyone to break up for summer, Finn stood at the door and said goodbye to each student in turn, offering hugs and handshakes and words of encouragement. He’d miss them more than anything – even if they were pains in his ass at times – but he had faith in them, and as the last student left, he and Rey gave each other small smiles.

“You did a good job with those guys,” Rey said.

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah – a lot of them wouldn’t have made it without you.”

Finn looked over at the two class photos again, and wiped at his eyes – they _had_ made it, in their own ways, and he realised that he’d made it, too. Much like his students, he was less nervous, more confident in himself and his abilities.

In a way, he figured, they'd helped each other get there in the end.


End file.
